


Wasted Time

by musiclvr1112



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), F/M, Identity Reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-08
Updated: 2016-08-08
Packaged: 2018-08-07 10:00:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7710778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musiclvr1112/pseuds/musiclvr1112
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When two of Adrien's best friends disappear at the same time, the truth becomes impossible to ignore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wasted Time

Five months. That’s how long he had waited for this. Five long months.

Adrien paced back and forth looking down at the pink rose in his hand. He smiled as he beheld the ladybug print ribbon that he had tied around its stem. All these years and it had taken him this long to figure it out. The answer had been right in front of him the whole time—or right behind him rather—and it had taken her going to England for him to figure it out.

It had been nearly four years since they had graduated high school. Though everyone had gone to different colleges in Paris, Alya had adamantly made sure that the “fearsome foursome” as she called it stayed together. So while he might not have been in class with them anymore, Adrien still saw Alya, Nino, and Marinette every week at least. They had all become his best friends over the years and he was happy to have them. He was especially happy that he and Marinette had managed to become better friends once she had stopped constantly stuttering around him. He never asked why she had been so nervous around him in the first place; all that mattered was that she was comfortable around him now, and he could honestly call her one of his best friends.

It had been last summer—about a month before they would all have to start their senior year courses—that Marinette had come running into the café where they were all supposed to meet up, screaming that she’d been accepted to study abroad at a fashion institute in England for the semester. No one had ever seen Marinette as happy as she was in that moment. They all tried to be happy for her, but that joy was weighed down by the realization that she wouldn’t be there with them for the entire semester.

It had been a few weeks later that Ladybug had told him she would be gone for the next five months. There hadn’t been an akuma attack in years, so it wasn’t like Chat Noir couldn’t handle Paris without her. They were hardly even needed anymore, now only lending a helping hand to the Police in dealing with robberies and other mundane crimes. But that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t go crazy without her.

What had given her away was telling him that her plane was leaving the next morning. In the moment, he hadn’t thought much about it, but the next morning when he, Alya, and Nino were in the car on their way back from dropping Mari off at the airport and his mind was able to roam, it clicked. Suddenly he was rewinding back to every single interaction he’d ever had with Marinette and Ladybug, trying to find even the smallest shed of evidence to say that they weren’t the same person.

He found none.

Plagg only confirmed his suspicions when they got home, deciding that then was the right time to tell him he’d known her identity the entire time. Adrien wanted to rip the kwami’s head off. He settled for giving him sub-par cheese for a week.

After that, he debated calling her. Telling her. But what would he say? I know you’re Ladybug? And also it’s me, Chat Noir? He couldn’t do that over the phone. But it was also killing him to keep it to himself. He’d gotten close a million times, dialing the number on his phone and sitting there as his thumb hovered over the call button, but each time he inevitably stopped himself. This was something he had to do in person.

And so, he waited. And waited. And waited.

Eventually Alya caught on to the fact that he asked about Marinette way more frequently than was normal. Sitting in the café one day, she and Nino had cornered him, and he’d been forced to admit that he had a huge crush on her. It was then that Alya had revealed to him the secret behind the stuttering.

Adrien was all at once elated and mortified. Marinette liked him— _Ladybug_ liked him! And he liked her. They liked each other. And they had liked each other this entire time. He couldn’t believe they had wasted so much time dancing around each other’s identities when the entire time they could’ve been together instead.

If he had been anxious for her to return before, there wasn’t a word strong enough to describe how he felt then. And so, standing outside of security in the airport, waiting for Marinette’s plane to land, Adrien couldn’t stop pacing. He knew exactly what he was going to do; he had been rehearsing every word over the past week. But now that he was actually here, he wondered if he would be able to do it without making a complete fool of himself.

“Sit down, lover boy. Your pacing is making me anxious,” Alya said from the bench beside him. He looked down at her. She didn’t _look_ anxious. She was calmly sitting there, scrolling the Ladyblog on her phone.

Nevertheless, Adrien followed orders and sat down. “I can’t help it. I’m really nervous.”

“Don’t be, idiot. Like I told her, she’s head over heels for you.”

“It’s been five months Alya. Can you really tell me that she hasn’t—,”

“Yes.” Alya finally put down her phone to look him dead in the eye. “I’ve been Skyping her every single day since she left, and let me tell you, if anything, her feelings have only gotten stronger. Now as you requested, I’ve kept my mouth shut about your feelings, but when she gets here, you have five minutes to tell her or I. Will. I’m sick of your guys’ stupidity,” she grumbled as she opened up the Ladyblog again.

Adrien sighed. He couldn’t say anything to that. She was right. They were stupid. And she didn’t even know the half of it.

They waited there for another 6 minutes and 47 seconds—not that he was counting—before Alya spoke again.

“Alright, she just texted me. The plane landed; she’ll be here any minute. Now listen up. I’m going to go to the bathroom and I’m going to stay there for exactly five minutes—no more no less. That’s how long you have to tell her. Got it?” Adrien nodded, more than a little intimidated by her. “Good. See you soon!” Adrien took a deep breath as he began channeling his inner Chat. He would need that confidence if he was going to do this.

Adrien hid himself from view the second he saw her approaching through the glass doors. Never in his life had he felt his stomach flutter as strongly as it did in that moment. It was the first time he’d seen her since he’d realized who she was; she was even more beautiful under the eye of his revelation. Marinette’s hair was wrapped up in a bun on top of her head instead of her usual pigtails. She wore a long black overcoat that was open in the front revealing a white sweater underneath that had her own floral print on it and dark blue jeans. On her feet were black high heel boots that came half way up her calves. His knees went weak. She looked…amazing. He took a deep breath. _You can do this Adrien_.

Marinette stepped through the door holding her duffle bag and looked around for Alya. She was beginning to wonder if her best friend had actually forgotten about her when she was forced to stop dead in her tracks as a single pink rose appeared in front of her face.  Wrapped around its stem was a red ribbon decorated with black spots in the fashion of a ladybug. “Welcome back, My Lady,” a familiar flirty voice whispered in her ear.

 _Oh no_ , she immediately thought. Chat Noir was standing right behind her, so close that she could feel the heat radiating from his body. And based on the bare hand holding the rose in front of her, he wasn’t transformed.

This was not what she was expecting to be confronted with when she got off the plane. Sure, she missed Chat Noir and she was looking forward to patrolling with him later that night, but never in her wildest dreams did she expect him to be waiting for her at the airport. And she most _definitely_ didn’t expect him to know who she was. How did he even find out!?

Marinette didn’t turn around. She didn’t dare. Standing behind her was her unmasked partner. She wasn’t sure she was ready for this and she was more than a little upset that he’d forced it upon her like this.

“How did you know?” she whispered, heart racing, eyes focused on the rose still being held in front of her. She refused to let herself so much as glance elsewhere lest she see the dumb cat without his guise.

“It became a little hard not to notice when two of my best friends disappeared at the same time,” he replied, voice soft but steady. Two of his best friends? Meaning that Marinette was one of his best friends as well? How was that possible? The only boys that she regularly hung out with were Nino and— “Will you look at me?” he asked gently, interrupting her thoughts.

Marinette stopped breathing; suddenly she had forgotten how. Even though she was in the middle of a bustling airport, everything around them seemed absolutely still, as if the rest of the world was frozen in place, waiting for her to turn around and look at him.

Forcing herself to breath, Marinette slowly turned, keeping her eyes low at first. The young man in front of her was wearing black designer shoes—expensive by the look of them—dark blue jeans, and a large Agreste brand black cashmere sweater over a green collared dress shirt. She found her gaze intensely focusing on the collar of his shirt—unwilling to allow her eyes to rise any further.

“Marinette?” She kept her eyes glued on his neck, noticing how his Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed nervously. “Please look at me?”

She wasn’t ready for this. She really wasn’t ready for this. But he was. She could hear it in his voice. He really wanted her to look at him. He was pleading for her to look at him. Marinette squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath. She could do this. She knew it had to happen eventually. At the very least, she would do this for him.

With one last long exhale, she finally willed herself to look up at him. His eyes were waiting for her—his bright emerald green eyes. Emerald green eyes which she had found herself lost in countless times before.

All thought processes that might have been running in her head stopped immediately. The world moved back into life around them as Marinette froze, wide eyes locked on his. His cheeks were coated in a light blush as he smiled down at her. He held the rose in the small space between them, twisting the stem between his fingers nervously.

“Adrien?” Her hand floated up to brush the side of his face with her fingers as if trying to confirm that she was really seeing him in front of her. He raised his hand to cover hers, holding it firm against his head. His hair was soft under her touch, as she always suspected it would be.

His smile faded as she proceeded to stare at him. “Are you disappointed?” he asked, gently slipping his hand away from hers in sudden uncertainty.

“No,” she whispered, “just surprised…” She brought both of her hands up to run her fingers through his hair, moving it around to resemble Chat Noir’s. He looked down at the rose, his blush deepening as she touched his hair, but she didn’t notice. She was running through every single interaction she’d ever had with him, all of the dots suddenly connecting. How had she not seen it before? “It was you… The whole time, it was you…” Marinette’s voice devolved into a fit of giggles as her hands smoothed down his hair and trailed down to his neck. “It’s you!”

Adrien stumbled back as she suddenly jumped onto him, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck. He instinctively wrapped his arms around her waist, supporting her weight as gravity tried to pull her back down. After his thoughts took a moment to catch up, he began laughing with her, relief washing over him like a wave of water crashing onto shore. He tucked his face into the side of her neck, breathing in her scent: vanilla mixed with pink jasmine. She felt so wonderful against him. Marinette— _his Lady_ —was in his arms. He never wanted to let go.

“Alright lover boy, let her go. It’s my turn.” Well, it had to happen sometime. Adrien reluctantly let Marinette slip out of his grip as she turned to face her best friend.

“Alya!? Y-You knew about this?” Adrien saw the sudden panic in her eyes. He was just about to jump in as cover when Alya responded.

“What? That Adrien has a crush on you that’s bigger than the Sahara desert? Yeah I knew.” Marinette experienced a brief moment of relief before a whole new wave of questions crashed over her. Thankfully she didn’t have time to think about any of them as she was enveloped in a hug. “I’m glad you’re back. Paris has been boring without you. Come on, Nino is waiting with the car.” Alya didn’t wait another beat, sauntering off toward the door to give them space.

Marinette reached down to pick up the duffle bag that had been dropped at some point during their exchange, but Adrien beat her to it, picking it up and slinging it over his shoulder. As her eyes came up to meet his, he held the rose out for her to take once again. She took it and smiled up at him, a sly smile that reminded him of his lady.

“So you have a crush on me bigger than the Sahara desert, huh?” The two fell into step together as they took their time following Alya.

Adrien laughed. “Now that you know who I am, are you really all that surprised?” Marinette blushed and stuck her nose into the flower to try to hide it.

“I guess not,” she said. “We really wasted a lot of time didn’t we?”

“We did, but…that’s not to say there isn’t still plenty of time left.” Adrien held his hand out to her with his palm facing up, a silent invitation for her to take it. She looked up at him. He smiled down at her, a warm smile that she had only before seen coming from Chat Noir. For the first time, she answered that smile with one of her own as she accepted his invitation. Then, hand in hand, the two super heroes of Paris made their way back home.


End file.
